


Family

by SecretlyAnonymous



Category: Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom, Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spiderman: Homecoming, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), the avenger - Fandom
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony-centric, defeating Thanos, pretty sure tony says asshole at some point, this is short and sweet, yeah thats it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 06:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18585493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretlyAnonymous/pseuds/SecretlyAnonymous
Summary: Tony's thoughts in the aftermath of Infinity War feat. Harley Keener.





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> The tag ["don't copy to another site"](https://evilwriter37.tumblr.com/post/187593611275/ao3s-users-alert-unauthorised-fanworks-copying)

Tony’s been back on earth for a total of one hour when he gets the message. Short and sweet: I’m coming to New York.

He’s been back for a total of one day when a tall curly haired blond attacks him.

Harley is a total seventeen years of age. The surviving Avengers draw their weapons but Tony wraps his arms around the kid hugs him.

“Harley? What’s wrong? Where’s your mom? And sister?”

Harley says nothing. Sobs. Clings tighter.

Tony looks at Pepper, who, bless her, goes to prepare a room for Harley.

Harley’s only a year older than Peter.

Peter’s dead. Harley isn’t.

The Avengers are still crowding them but they’ve put their weapons away so Tony sinks to the floor with Harley.

“It’ll be okay Harley.”

Harley whimpers and Tony’s stuck by the difference between eleven-year-old Harley and seventeen-year-old Harley. Tony hopes he’ll go back to being pushy and a jerk soon, or at least to whatever was normal for Harley before Thanos.

He’s not getting his hopes up.

Pepper returns and Tony picks Harley off the ground. The Avengers bombard them with questions _you have a - since when - is he okay - where’s his_

Tony ignores them but he doesn’t ignore Harley’s flinch so he glares at them until they leave the room.

The room Pepper prepared is a standard guest room but it’s the closest one to his and Pepper’s room and Peter’s is just down the hall. Tony knows he’ll be replacing the white sheets with something more Harley and doing anything else he need to make Harley better. To make himself better.

Neither of them are okay. Pepper’s lost too: family she wasn’t really close to but whose loss is felt all the same.

Tony dreams about Titan and Strange and Thanos and Peter. He dreams of spaceships and nebulas and dust.

Pepper dreams about phone calls and missed dates and crashes and destruction. She dreams of screams and Tony and dust.

Harley dreams of Mom and Abby and his teachers and his neighbor’s cow. He dreams of voice mails and garage labs and dust.

It’s uncommon for them all to have nightmares the same night but sometimes they cluster on the couch and watch shitty movies instead of sleeping. He’s taken guardianship of Harley and they’re a family but it feels like something’s missing and that something is probably Peter and maybe May too.

Tony wonders if Harley feels the same way about his mom and sister.

He talks about Peter to Harley and Pepper, though she knows a lot of it already. It helps. May’s been working overtime at the hospital because half her associates died and they’re full of injured people from the decimation.

Harley talks about his sister. She outgrew Hello Kitty but fell in love with the Barbie movies almost immediately after. Then she had a mermaid phase and a Transformers phase at the same time, then a mythology phase. Then dust. She annoyed the fuck out of Harley and he misses her but he’d never admit that.

 

He doesn’t say a word about Peter to the Avengers.

 

Tony doesn’t realize he’s looking at a way to reverse the Decimation until Harley asks about it. He approaches the team and they like his plan so they decide to go through with it.

“We’re gonna a place to do it and I don’t think Earth is ideal,” Natasha says. Tony thinks of Peter and says, “I think I know a place.”

Tony insists on leaving Harley behind. He couldn’t stand losing another kid. Harley seems to understand because he’s not as much of an asshole that day.

The night before they leave Tony says to an empty room, “Peter, if you really are there and I’m not going crazy, you’re like a son to me. You _are_ my son. I’m not sure I’ll have the courage to tell you in person so here we are. I’ll see you as soon I can, okay?”

The room doesn’t say anything.

Tensions are high on the way to Titan and at some point someone says something along the lines of _Tony didn’t lose anything why is he acting like he’s grieving self-entitled jerk_ but he’s not paying attention. Nebula says, “His son died in his arms and you think he doesn’t have the right to grieve?”

“What son? The one back on Earth? Because he’s not dead!”

Nebula turns to Tony and says, “You didn’t tell them?”

Tony shrugs. “It’s a sensitive subject and I don’t trust them enough to tell them.” He’s not looking at anyone.

They’re halfway through the ceremony when Thanos shows up. As usual, he looks like a murderous nutsack.

Tony fights him off with Cap by his side. They finish him at the same time Nebula and Rocket and Clint and Bruce finish the ceremony. A wave spreads out and Tony knows that nothing will ever take root there again.

He doesn’t care because around them six dust figures solidify and one of them is definitely Peter. He’s attacked by a crying teenager again but this time he’s prepared and catches Peter.

The stones are shattered into a million pieces and the gauntlet is smoking. Strange says something about piecing the stones back together so they spend a little bit of time roaming the galaxy, dropping stone pieces on a thousand planets and in a thousand suns. With luck, no one will ever find all the pieces. Peter hasn’t left Tony’s side since he came back and Tony’s okay with that. The trip home is filled with less tension but it’s still there, just different.

“How many kids do you have?” Steve asks and Tony realizes he thinks Harley and Peter are Tony’s but Tony is okay with that because they are.

“Two,” he says. Peter curls into his side.

Harley jumps him again when they get home. He holds a hand out to Peter but Peter hugs him and thanks him.

Peter’s never called him dad but he does that day and Tony might cry.

There’s going to be a custody issue once Harley’s mother is in decent shape to take care of him again and the politics and school will be a pain to deal with, but Tony has his family and he’s happy so everything’s okay.


End file.
